LCC amps up campus security with armed officers

Friday

Lenoir Community College’s recent security adjustments places armed and sworn law enforcement on campus grounds, which gives the school maximum preparation for threats.

Lenoir Community College’s recent security adjustments places armed and sworn law enforcement on campus grounds, which gives the school maximum preparation for threats.

“When you see the things that happen at other places, both colleges and other schools and malls … you sense that there is a need to do more to try to protect the people you’re here to serve,” said Brantley Briley, LCC president. “I … as did the leadership team, decided that it would be in the college’s best interest to go with armed, sworn officers that have full arrest powers.”

An armed campus police force, supplied by Down East Protection Services, has patrolled the local LCC campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week beginning in January. The company provides guard services to various local institutions and began a contract with the college in September that utilized unarmed security guards.

Coupled with the officers, all LCC employees were educated on the school’s Emergency Response Plan during a staff development day last month. They can quickly access the plan if the campus’ safety is compromised by threatening scenarios — from an active shooter to a chemical spill.

“(The) first phase of our plan was to go in and look at threat assessments,” Deborah Sutton, vice president of administrative services, said about the third party company used to develop LCC’s safety plan. “Once we identified what those threats were, we tried to focus on how we would react to each one of those. It’s a plan that doesn’t come easily. You have to keep working on it.”

She said the school works with the company once a week.

The complete safety playbook — which includes an expensive communications facet — is costing the school more than $100,000 this year.

“We’ve spent a lot of money on it,” Briley said. “Money, as an educator, I wish could be going directly into the classrooms, but we’ve got to protect everybody on our campuses as much as we can.”

Automotive systems student Vince Perry waited in an empty hallway to be picked up from school Thursday.

“I do feel safer,” he said about the increased security on campus. “There are so many incidents on the news about how people come to campuses. I think it’s a good thing to have some armed security around.”

The officers must go through an extensive background check and testing before they are cleared to work through DEPS. Maury Cameron, who’s been in law enforcement more than 30 years, is waiting for authorization from Raleigh but still patrols the campus unarmed.

“I’m thinking (the increased security) is going to show a better presence when law enforcement has the power to arrest and handle ever situation that happens on campus in stead of calling Kinston Police Department or Lenoir County Sheriff’s Departments,” he said. “We can handle it right here on site.”

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.

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